Hey! Phillip Prather and Brett Funke check this out: Wired would not allow me to post the link. Part Man, Part Film, All Mann Brad King Email 03.12.02 If we think of technology as a runaway monster, we can think of this as a way to tame the beast with a piece of itself. -- Steve Mann, inventor of wearable computers, in Cyberman. AUSTIN, Texas -- Steve Mann was never comfortable being a human being, so he spent his life trying to become something else. That something else is to become the first human cyborg, and thats the subject of Cyberman, a documentary film that had its U.S. première at Austins South by Southwest (SXSW) Film Festival. The film traces Manns gut-wrenching and charming 30-year path to merge humans with technology. Mann, whom many people credit with developing the first wearable computer, never leaves his house without his bag of technological toys. His most prized possession is the Eye-Tap sunglasses he began developing during high school in the late 70s. There is an idea that the eye is a camera, Mann said during a virtual presentation, which was delivered in real-time using the Eye-Tap glasses and projected onto a large screen. The idea being that you can come inside my head and see my world. The Eye-Tap evolution, and the numerous wearable recording devices he developed, got worldwide notice in 1994. Long before webcams, Manns website attracted 30,000 hits a day when he began broadcasting his life 24 hours a day while a student at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. There were a lot of people, I found, whod rather watch me live my life than live their own life, Mann said. He still broadcasts his life today, using a wireless connection and a static IP address to instantly deliver images to his website. The modern glasses come with a mounted mini-camera for recording and broadcasting live feeds on the Internet. Plus, the right lens of his glasses also operates as a tiny computer screen: a basic DOS type screen, with the ability to do simple commands such as surf the Web, check e-mail and write small programs. A customized hand-clicker, about the size of a mouse, operates the entire system. The glasses give Mann dual perception. With his left eye, he sees the world like the rest of us. The right lens has a tiny camera, which projects an image onto the lens. Half of his world is Windows Media while the other half is reality. The duality causes Mann to interact with other people as if he has no sight. He torques his head, leaning in as people speak to him, and often appears tentative moving around rooms. The filmmakers, headed by director Peter Lynch at the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, use that duality to tell their story. They intersperse interviews with three screen shots showing the same scene through 35 mm film, Manns Internet media and his digital camera. The film traces his lifelong goal of pushing the limits of where the human being ends and the computer begins. His experiments have often alienated him from those around him. His best friend in sixth grade, Graham, wasnt allowed to play with him because his mother felt Manns fascination with electronic gadgets was weird. That stigma followed him through his college years, when MIT students tried to have his live broadcasts shut down. But Mann continued, undaunted by the criticism and chiding. Through it all, hes constructed devices that allow him to record every moment he sees, connect with the Internet 24 hours a day and develop a legion of followers at the University of Toronto, where he teaches engineering. Mann is scraggly. He has the look of a mad scientist too concerned with work to care about physical appearance. His thin strands of hair hang just above his shoulders, constantly getting in his way. He has perpetual whiskers and his fingernails get longer throughout the film, as if hes forgotten other people can see him. The oversized Eye-Tap glasses look better suited for a Florida retiree than a university professor. But there is a gentle humanity to Mann, who evokes an emotional response from nearly everyone hes around. His notions of privacy are met with disdain, something he documented in a real–time streaming experiment called Shooting Back. We explored what happened when wed bring an ordinary handheld camera into places with surveillance, Mann said during a virtual presentation. I was often told only criminals were afraid of cameras (by store employees), but then I was told that I couldnt record in those stores. The experiment led to a humorous scene with a trio of Wal-Mart employees. Mann enters the store with the documentary filmmakers, a handheld digital camera and his Eye-Tap glasses. As he stands under a security camera and the television monitor showing people as they enter and leave the store, two employees tell him he isnt allowed to record anything. He counters that if the store can run surveillance, he should be able to record. The filmmakers are eventually run out when the assistant manager cant explain the difference between taping for security and his Internet media experiment. Hes met with similar reactions from the New York City police department and the Secret Service. In a strange twist of fate, Mann actually missed the Austin screening because airport security wouldnt let him on the plane with his gear. The Eye-Tap glasses get a real-world test during an anti-poverty demonstration in Canada that erupts into a full-fledged fight between the police (in full riot gear) and the angry mob. Mann broadcasts live footage from the event, along with still photographs, directly to the Internet. The most poignant moment of the film comes as he recounts his childhood days with his friend Graham, with whom he used to design and build circuit boards. Eventually, Grahams mother thinks Manns fascination with electrical equipment is unhealthy and forbids the boys from playing together anymore. Its a theme that is repeated throughout his life. However, Mann continues to press forward with his work, teaching a new generation of students how to create technologies that blur the line between reality and cyberspace.
Posted on: Tue, 03 Dec 2013 00:36:17 +0000
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